The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

The Crimean branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine [CVU] reports on the findings of a preliminary analysis of candidates in the October parliamentary elections.

Only one representative of the Crimea has got into the first 100 names on the Party of the Regions candidate list. This is current MP Vasyl Kiselyov whose place at no. 98 does not guarantee him a place in parliament. This means that for people from the Crimea, the only real chance of getting into parliament with the party in power is to win the elections in a single-mandate electoral district.

Even then, however, not all the candidates are actually from the Crimea.

Preliminary assessment of the lists of other parties likely to get into parliament (the threshold now being 5% - translator) does not promise strong representation from the Crimea. Among the candidates for the United Opposition with a good chance of getting into parliament there are three Crimeans – the Leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Mustafa Dzhemiliev (12th on the list); MP Ludmila Denisova (38) and Andriy Senchenko (48). There is little chance of any candidate from the United Opposition winning in single-mandate electoral districts in the Crimea.

CVU points out the 2012 Elections will not make it possible to form a proportionate number of representatives of the region in the Verkhovna Rada which is not in the interests of Crimean voters. CVU will continue to follow the candidate lists as they emerge, and then prepare a full report.